Perfecta by Reik and Maluma

Published by Lyrical Language on July 30, 2021July 30, 2021

“Perfecta” is a collaboration between Mexican band Reik and Colombian singer Maluma. As of the writing of this post it is a non-album single. It reached number 33 on the Billboard Latin chart.

Song information from Wikipedia.

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Activities

About the Artists

Reik

Reik is a Mexican pop rock band from Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico that was formed in 2003 by Jesús Alberto Navarro Rosas (lead vocals), Julio Ramírez Eguía (guitar, background vocals), and Gilberto Marín Espinoza (guitar). The band’s name came from the word ‘rake’, in reference to raking a guitar’s strings. The English term was transliterated for Spanish speakers. They began releasing demos through the Mexican underground club scene, two of which, “Levemente” and “Ahora Sin Ti”, gained them recognition throughout Mexico. In May of 2005 they released their first album Reik, and their first two singles “Yo Quisiera” and “Qué Vida La Mía” both reached number one on the Mexican charts, as did their third single “Noviembre Sin Ti” from their second album Secuencia. Their first five albums all reached platinum or gold certification in Mexico. After their fifth album the goup made a shift from pop to urban music, working with numerous reggaeton singers, including Nicky Jam, Ozuna and Maluma, giving them several hits on the Billboard charts. won a Latin Billboard Music Award, four Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica awards, and a Latin Grammy.

Biographical information from Wikipedia.

Maluma

Juan Luis Londoño Arias, who performs as Maluma, is a singer, songwriter, and actor from Medellín, Colombia. He got his start recording and publishing his own music. He has had numerous hits in the US and throughout Latin America. His biggest hit to date was the single “Chantaje”, a collaboration with Colombian singer Shakira. He has won a Latin Grammy Award and two Latin American Music Awards.

Biographical information from Wikipedia.

Cultural References, Idioms and Explanations

Ordinarily in this section, I would go over why the subjunctive is necessary/appropriate in each instance. However, since the subjunctive mood is the grammar subject addressed in the activities section, these explanations can be found on our Activities page.

‘de verdad’ – Literally translating as ‘of truth’, this phrase means ‘seriously’ or ‘really’.

‘llevarse’ – The verb ‘llevar’ means ‘to take’ or ‘to carry’. The pronominal version ‘llevarse’ has several meanings. It can mean ‘to take’ or ‘to steal’; ‘to get along’ or ‘to hit it off’; or ‘to be in style/fashion’. In this context it is used in the sense of taking or stealing.

‘hay/habrá’ – The impersonal third person singular form of the verb ‘haber’ meaning ‘to have’, this term means ‘there is’ or ‘there are’. It would translate literally as ‘it has’. ‘Habrá’ is the future form of ‘hay’.

‘para que’ – This phrase means ‘so that’ or ‘in order that’, and is one of the phrases that will always be followed by the subjunctive.

‘devolverse’ – The verb ‘devolver’ means ‘to return’, ‘to give back’ or ‘to take back’. The pronominal version ‘volverse’ means ‘to turn back’, ‘to go back’, or ‘to come back’.

‘lo’ – ‘Lo’ is a little different than the other object pronouns. While the other pronouns replace a specific noun, ‘lo’ is used to refer to something abstract, to an unnamed activity or situation, or to a previous statement. Here it refers to the situation in general. While most of the uses in this song refer simply to an abstract ‘it’, in the instance “Yo no lo haría porque a ti te tengo” ‘lo’ refers to the previous statement about turning back time.

‘darse cuenta’ – Lliterally translating as ‘to give oneself account’, this phrase means ‘to realize’.

‘me faltaba’ – One of the uses of the verb ‘faltar’ is to express a lack of something. In this use ‘faltar’ works like the verb ‘gustar’, where the person/object that lacks or needs something is the indirect object of the sentence, not the subject. The object or person that is lacking or needed is the subject, and the verb in agreement. Literally this phrase means ‘[item] is missing to [person/thing]’.

‘solo’ vs ‘tan solo’ – While both phrases translate as ‘only’ or ‘just’, the addition of ‘tan’, meaning ‘so’, makes the second version more emphatic.

‘volverse’ – The verb ‘volver’ means ‘to return’ or ‘to come back’. The pronominal form means ‘to turn’, ‘to become’ or ‘to get’.

‘de la nada’ – Literally translating as ‘from the nothing’, this phrase means ‘out of nowhere’ or ‘out of the blue’.

‘a tu piel me direcciono’ – Ok, so I’m not going to lie, the whole verse section of this song perplexs me a little. I feel like it was written more with rhyming in mind that with meaning. The RAE doens’t even recognize ‘dirrectionar’ as a Spanish verb. While several dictionaries do recognize it as a verb, it is an IT term referring to giving an address to a piece of data. So I guess literally he’s saying ‘I address (give myself an address) to your skin’. I am fairly certain that in this instance it is simply an anglecism used in the sense of ‘heading in the direction of’ something. Once again I also think its use here has to do with creating the right rhyming sequence.

‘apasionarse’ – The verb ‘apasionar’ means ‘to inspire’ or ‘to be passionate about’. The pronominal verson ‘apasionarse’ means ‘to love’ or ‘to be crazy about’.

‘capa de ozono’ – True to its literal translation, this term means ‘ozone layer’.

‘por ahí’ – Literally meaning ‘for there’, this phrase means ‘around there’, that way; somewhere; over there

‘dar con’ – Literally translating as ‘to give with’, this phrase means ‘ to find’ or ‘to stumble upon’.

‘cora’ – This is simply a shortened version of the masculine noun ‘corazón’ meaning ‘heart’.

‘por más que’ – Literally translating as ‘for much that’, this phrase means ‘no matter how much’.

‘tratar de’ – The verb tratar by itself mean ‘to address’, ‘to deal with’, ‘to treat’ or ‘to cure. The expression ‘tratar de’ means ‘to try to’ or ‘to attempt to’. While the ‘de’ does not appear in this construction, this is the meaning that makes sense in this context.

Activities

We’ve created flashcards, games, and exercises to practice vocabulary and grammatical concepts found in this song. Check out our Activities Page to take your learning further!

Song Lyrics with Grammatical Breakdown

Mouse over a term for grammatical information. A chart of the terms and grammatical information can be found here.

Perfecta

[Intro]

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

[Verse]

[Pre-Chorus]

[Chorus]

Lyrics with Translation

Songs in any language often leave room for multiple interpretations. Following is my interpretation of the song lyrics.

Perfecta
Perfect

[Intro]
Antes no creía que de verdad existiera alguien así como tú
Before, I didn’t think that anyone like you really existed
Bendito el día en el que te encontré
Blessed is the day I found you
Juro que de dónde estés algo de mí te llevarás también
I swear that wherever you are, you’ll take something from me too
No habrá camino que camine si tú no estás en él
There will be no road that I walk if you are not on it

[Pre-Chorus]
¿Cómo puedo hacer para que entiendas
How can I make you understand
Que me deslumbras, que eres perfecta, que no hay ninguna?
That you blow me away, that you are perfect, that there is none?
Si se pudiera devolver el tiempo
If time could be turned back
Yo no lo haría porque a ti te tengo
I wouldn’t because I have you
Solo tú me complementas, no tengo dudas
Only you complement me, I have no doubts
Sin darme cuenta le diste cura a la soledad que me mataba
Without realizing it you cured the loneliness that was killing me
Tú me diste lo que me faltaba
You gave me what I was missing

[Chorus]
No sé ni cómo explicar lo que yo siento por ti
I don’t even know how to explain how I feel about you
Eres tan fundamental, en mi vida tan crucial
You are so fundamental, so crucial in my life
Y no quiero imaginar tan solo un día sin ti
And I don’t want to imagine even one day without you
Tus besos se volvieron necesarios
Your kisses became necessary
Eres la luz que de la nada salió
You are the light that came out of nowhere

[Verse]
La verdad no dimensiono
The truth, I don’t measure
Estar sin ti, por eso te menciono
Being without you, that’s why I’m mentioning to you
Cada ve’ que no te veo, a tu piel me direcciono
Every time I don’t see you, I turn toward your skin
Tan solo al verte me apasiono
Just seeing you I go crazy
Tú me besa’ y yo siento cómo me saca’ de la capa de ozono
You kiss me and I feel how you take me out of the ozone layer
Bebé, tus besos son como una puesta a otra dimensión
Baby, your kisses are like a setting to another dimension
Yo que pensaba que era un loco por ahí sin dirección
I, who thought I was a madman out there with no direction
Pero di con tu ubicación y me quedé en tu corazón
But I found your location and I stayed in your heart
La dueña de mi cora eres tú
The owner of my heart is you
Nadie me lo hace como tú
Nobody does it to me like you
Tú tienes algo que me atrapa
You have something that catches me
Ninguna llega a tu nivel por má’ que tratan
None reach your level no matter how hard they try

Grammatical Concepts Used in this Song

Possessive adjectives:
- Eres tan fundamental, en mi vida tan crucial
- La dueña de mi cora eres tú
- Tus besos se volvieron necesarios
- Bebé, tus besos son como una puesta a otra dimensión
- Cada ve’ que no te veo, a tu piel me direcciono
- Pero di con tu ubicación y me quedé en tu corazón
- Ninguna llega a tu nivel por má’ que tratan

Contractions:
- Tan solo al verte me apasiono

Demonstrative Pronoun:
- Estar sin ti, por eso te menciono

Object Pronouns:
- Bendito el día en el que te encontré
- Que me deslumbras, que eres perfecta, que no hay ninguna?
- Yo no lo haría porque a ti te tengo
- Solo tú me complementas, no tengo dudas
- Sin darme cuenta le diste cura a la soledad que me mataba
- Tú me diste lo que me faltaba
- No sé ni cómo explicar lo que yo siento por ti
- Estar sin ti, por eso te menciono
- Cada ve’ que no te veo, a tu piel me direcciono
- Tan solo al verte me apasiono
- Tú me besa’ y yo siento cómo me saca’ de la capa de ozono
- Nadie me lo hace como tú
- Tú tienes algo que me atrapa

Disjunctive Pronouns:
- Juro que de dónde estés algo de mí te llevarás también
- No habrá camino que camine si tú no estás en él
- Yo no lo haría porque a ti te tengo
- No sé ni cómo explicar lo que yo siento por ti
- Y no quiero imaginar tan solo un día sin ti
- Estar sin ti, por eso te menciono

Reflexive Pronouns:
- Juro que de dónde estés algo de mí te llevarás también
- Si se pudiera devolver el tiempo
- Sin darme cuenta le diste cura a la soledad que me mataba
- Tus besos se volvieron necesarios
- Cada ve’ que no te veo, a tu piel me direcciono
- Tan solo al verte me apasiono
- Pero di con tu ubicación y me quedé en tu corazón

Irregular:
- estar:
  - No habrá camino que camine si tú no estás en él
- ser:
  - Que me deslumbras, que eres perfecta, que no hay ninguna?
  - Eres tan fundamental, en mi vida tan crucial
  - Eres la luz que de la nada salió
  - La dueña de mi cora eres tú
  - Bebé, tus besos son como una puesta a otra dimensión
- haber:
  - Que me deslumbras, que eres perfecta, que no hay ninguna?
- saber:
  - No sé ni cómo explicar lo que yo siento por ti
- ver:
  - Cada ve’ que no te veo, a tu piel me direcciono
- hacer:
  - Nadie me lo hace como tú
Spelling-Change:
- sacar:
  - Tú me besa’ y yo siento cómo me saca’ (sacas) de la capa de ozono
- llegar:
  - Ninguna llega a tu nivel por má’ que tratan
Stem-changing:
- tener:
  - Yo no lo haría porque a ti te tengo
  - Solo tú me complementas, no tengo dudas
  - Tú tienes algo que me atrapa
- poder:
  - ¿Cómo puedo hacer para que entiendas
- sentir:
  - No sé ni cómo explicar lo que yo siento por ti
  - Tú me besa’ y yo siento cómo me saca’ de la capa de ozono
- querer:
  - Y no quiero imaginar tan solo un día sin ti

Reflexive Verbs:
- Juro que de dónde estés algo de mí te llevarás también
- Si se pudiera devolver el tiempo
- Sin darme cuenta le diste cura a la soledad que me mataba
- Tus besos se volvieron necesarios
- Cada ve’ que no te veo, a tu piel me direcciono
- Tan solo al verte me apasiono
- Pero di con tu ubicación y me quedé en tu corazón

Preterito:
- Tus besos se volvieron necesarios
- Sin darme cuenta le diste cura a la soledad que me mataba
- Tú me diste lo que me faltaba
- Eres la luz que de la nada salió
- Pero di con tu ubicación y me quedé en tu corazón
- Bendito el día en el que te encontré

Imperfect:
- Antes no creía que de verdad existiera alguien así como tú
- Yo que pensaba que era un loco por ahí sin dirección
- Sin darme cuenta le diste cura a la soledad que me mataba
- Tú me diste lo que me faltaba

Future:
- No habrá camino que camine si tú no estás en él
- Juro que de dónde estés algo de mí te llevarás también

Conditional:
- Yo no lo haría porque a ti te tengo

Subjunctive:
- Juro que de dónde estés algo de mí te llevarás también
- No habrá camino que camine si tú no estás en él
- ¿Cómo puedo hacer para que entiendas